NIHR Incubator Competition

Support for current NIHR Incubators and new groups that operate within NIHR’s remit and address an area/discipline where there is a need to build research capacity on a national level.

Established in 2006 and primarily funded by the Department of Health and Social Care, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds health and care research in the UK.

NIHR Incubators address areas where there is a need to build research capacity on a national level and emerged following the NIHR Strategic Review of Training. Current NIHR Incubators include:

• Social Care Incubator
• Public Health Incubator
• Emergency Care Incubator
• Nursing and Midwifery Incubator
• Incubator for Mental Health Research
• Methodology Incubator
• Incubator for Clinical Education Research
• Advanced Surgical Technology Incubator

The NIHR Incubator Competition offers the opportunity to delve into the complex issues and barriers that exist in capacity building in a particular area by the community who are embedded in and who have forged careers in these areas. The funding enables a community to bring together key stakeholders to suggest and implement solutions to building research capacity in a sustainable and meaningful way. The focus is on building academic research capacity but there should be consideration of a broad spectrum of research careers.

NIHR Incubators will play an important role in attracting, training and supporting researchers to tackle the complex health and care challenges of the future within their specific area/discipline. Their focus will be on building academic research capacity but there should be consideration of a broad spectrum of research careers.

The key objectives that underpin the Incubator initiative are to:

• Identify the gap and the need to build research capacity at a national level, and to develop and deliver solutions.
• Support under-represented groups in which research capacity is particularly low.
• Attract individuals into health and care research (within the Incubator specific area/theme).
• Provide additional training and support to increase applications and success rates for NIHR funding.

Following an open competition, the NIHR will designate a maximum of eight Incubators in areas/disciplines where there is a need to build research capacity on a national level. If two or more applications in similar areas are received, they may be asked to work together as one group.

Successful Incubators will run for a three-year period, during which they will be badged as ‘NIHR Incubators’ and will receive annual funding and support.

2022 NIHR Incubator Highlight Notices

The 2022 NIHR Incubator Competition is open to applications that address areas where there is a need to build research capacity on a national level. Current NIHR Incubators (excluding regional Incubators) are also eligible to apply. NIHR welcomes applicants to consider planning for and proposing Incubators in any relevant area for NIHR, while being particularly mindful of NIHR’s strategy Best Research for Best Health: The Next Chapter. For this competition, NIHR also particularly encourages applications for Incubators that support researchers from minoritised ethnic backgrounds and careers in pharmacy.